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Building Services Engineering l July/August 2020
LightingEurope calls for
LIGHTING TO FEATURE IN THE
THE GREEN DEAL LightingEurope is supporting the call to scale up renovation across Europe and is working hard to make sure it includes lighting. Renovation is at the heart of the European Green Deal (see page 40) and has been identified as a key driver for social and economic recovery post COVID-19. There cannot, and should not, be any renovation of buildings in Europe without upgrading the lighting installations, says Paul O‘Connor, Chairman, Lighting Association Ireland (LAI), which is the Irish member representative body of LightingEurope. Many perceive lighting mainly as a driver for energy efficiency and this indeed remains one of the core values for the lighting industry. The now mostly accomplished transition to LED technology has led to up to 90% savings for European consumers. The implementation of a comprehensive light management system will save 20 to 29 TWh per year as of 2030 (Lot 37 Ecodesign Lighting Systems <http://ecodesignlightingsystems.eu/introduction>). However, the benefits from lighting for the health, well-being, productivity and safety of people are rarely seen as added value. At best, they come for free as part of the energy savings. These benefits received more attention in 2017, when three biologists were awarded the Nobel Prize for helping to explain how the
Lighting in Green Deal edit.indd 2
human circadian rhythm works, including how light affects our daily biological cycle. With the EU Renovation Wave initiative, the discussion must move beyond energy savings to also address healthier buildings, peoples’ quality of life and a lower level of inconvenience. We spend 90% of our time indoors and the quality of our indoor environment has a direct and indirect impact on our health, well-being, and productivity. To date, most people think of heating, cooling and ventilation when referring to indoor environmental quality. The importance of good indoor air quality, for instance, is well known. However, according to LightingEurope we must look beyond air quality and address all aspects of indoor environmental
Paul O’Connor, Chairman, LAI
quality which includes ventilation, cooling, heating, daylight, electric lighting, air-conditioning, dehumidification, plumbing and building automation and controls. The visual impact of lighting can be felt directly, i.e. we can see sufficiently to carry out our task and for orientation. The impact on our body and emotions from lighting is felt more indirectly but has meanwhile been proven in many studies <https://www.valueoflighting. eu/>. With good quality lighting employees perform better, students score higher, and it is known to improve the sleep, mood and behaviour of patients suffering from Alzheimer disease. LightingEurope proposes that no renovation should take place without an upgrade of the lighting
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